My friends and I have to make something for each other that is Christmasy. I wanted to make her a card that is really nice and has either her picture or just decorations on it. If you can help me with an idea that would be great. I just would like to make her a christmas card. We are young (13) so I don't want it to be too fancy, just simple.
Thank You, Madeleine from Vaughan, ON
How can I make the cutest christmas cards for my friends? They need to be cheap.
I found some great ideas for the greetings or scriptures you can use on home made Christmas cards. Some are simple, some really pretty quotes. They also have free downloads for Christmas fonts. http://www.christmascardsayings.net
I shall describe a Christmas card I sent to my girlfriend some 10 years ago. She loved it and I believe the idea was very original. I was an electronics hobbyist back then, but my basic greeting card design can be made by anyone. Just try to find some old, discarded piece of electronics equipment with many colored resistors, capacitors and other components. No matter what the device was for, as long as the components look pretty :) Use standard card stock material to create your own greeting card by drawing a Christmas tree on the front. It does not really matter how nice the tree looks. Now, remove the electronic components from the old device using any method at hand (wire cutters, or de-soldering with a soldering iron, if you're into electronics). Now simply glue these to look like ornaments on a Christmas tree. It looks very nice indeed - color codes on resistors, various shapes of capacitors and resistors.
I went further by adding some miniature LED lights flashing. No need to make specialized circuits. You can buy LEDs that flash just when connected to a button-battery (they are cheap). Add more ornaments from multicolor wires etc. The miniature battery at the back of the cardboard can power this, and very thin wires can be used due to low power consumption (with a switch, of course). So, a whole card can be made from useless discarded parts. A great way to recycle old electronics and also create a memorable greeting card that everybody will like far more than anything you can buy at the shop. Best of luck!
I do this for all occasions. I use a digital photo, print it on cardstock, using that as the front of the card, letting everyone sign it themselves with their own personal note. For example, when my m-i-l was in the hospital, I had my children make a 'Get Well Soon Grandma' banner out of computer paper. Each child held either a word or part of a word. I took a picture of them holding the paper in front of them. Another time our dog's original owner was in an accident so I took a picture of our children with our dogs, using that as the front. For funerals, I use this picture of either the river or of the sky with the sun peaking through the clouds where you can see the rays. For thank you notes I take a picture of the person opening the gift, then using that as the front. For Christmas, you could take a picture of your tree, nativity set, just about anything and go from there. Last year I took the word 'Christmas' and wrote a meaning for each letter in the word. I hope you send a picture if you can or at least let us know what you did for your cards! I can't wait to see.
I have been doing this for year --- i call it recycleing -- when i get christmas cards i cut them in half if nothing is wrote on them you can reuse them --- then on the front of the card i put double sided tape on it -- then you put lace around it. On the back you write what you want too. OR you can punch holes around it crocket (misspelled) around it. They look great when they are done. Have fun doing them.
For the card front you could take notebook paper and in a childish handwriting write: "Dear Santa, I can explain......." Inside you can write "Naughty or Nice have a Merry Christmas!"
Madeleine -- I let my children (i.e. 5 to 6 yrs. old and up) draw pictures of Santa or Christmas trees, or whatever is "Christmas-y", then I go over the drawing with a dark marker, photocopy it onto cardstock in the color of choice (red? lime green?), and post in an envelope of corresponding color. The supplies are readily available at Kinko's or OfficeMax or any other large copycenter. Of course, you could always add glitter, ribbons, dried flowers to the finished product, whatever you like. Have fun!
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Request: Homemade Christmas Cards
Archived on 12/06/2006
I want to make some homemade Christmas cards this year. Does anyone have any patterns and/or ideas?
Sheri from Modesto CA
Answers:
RE: Homemade Christmas Cards
Here is a tip for the envelopes you'll need. After christmas is over and stock is down to 75-90% off, buy those packs of card and use the envelopes for future use. Donate the cards to school or family center and everyone makes out on the deal. (10/25/2006)
I have been making cards for years and every one loves them in fact a few of my cards have been framed and put in places of honor in my friends homes. Some of them have been hand painted, you can look at some of Donna Dewberry's snowmen, it was very easy. She also paints a teddy bear that is simple. Last year I took muslin and ironed fusable web on it, cut out snowmen took chalk and lightly colored the edges some in blue and some in brown. Cut felt hats and and scarves and glued the parts on a card. I made faces with permanent marker. They were adorable. Any of the cards I make using material I always back the material with fusable web to make gluing it easier. (11/29/2006)
Does anyone have any ideas for making homemade Christmas cards?
Jill from Shavertown, PA
Answers:
RE: Homemade Christmas Cards With Kids Artwork
This year the girls drew a design on the front of the blank cards and I followed the design with white glue. We then sprinkled the tiny sparkly glass marbles you find in the scrapbooking aisle. So festive! (12/01/2005)
By Kelly
RE: Homemade Christmas Cards With Kids Artwork
I collect old Christmas cards and re-use parts of them for collage cards
I also incorporate with scrapbooking embellishments
Ask you church members to give you the old cards
WIth a little creativity and some other scraps of ribbon, paper, stickers these can be made into package tags, post cards, gift bags and boxes. Not only do you save money but you have fun doing it
(12/02/2005)
By Diana
Homemade Christmas Cards With Kids Artwork
Last year we made wonderful, meaningful and inexpensive Christmas cards. I saved up my then 2 year olds finger paintings throughout October and November and then cut them into smaller rectangles using a decorative scissors and then glued them to the front of plain cards. You can get a large pack of plain cards and envelopes at Michael's Craft store pretty cheaply. I then let my little girls use a glue stick to put glue and glitter on the fronts. They turned out so cute and so many people commented on how they made them smile.
By Kelly (12/05/2005)
Using scrapbooking stuff is really cute! They have cute things that you can make cards with. Everything from buttons to cut outs! Its a really great spot to start. And hey you might get hooked on it and start scrapbooking! Also, you can make cute ones on your computer... you can take pictures of something or someone cute and put it on a card.. the ideas are endless...hope it helps. (12/05/2005)
Find some Christmas material with large patterns such as gingerbread men, snowflakes, bells, etc. Cut around the item, and using scrapbooking glue, paste it to card-stock. You could also just make a pattern of the size of the front of your card and cut a piece of material to fit. I did this with Halloween cards one year and it was lots of fun. You have to be careful of your cards curling up so maybe place under something heavy after the glue dries. (12/06/2005)
My college daughter used paper bags she got from the grocery store and created her own.
You can get plenty of pictures from magazines that someone might toss, use the letters for title pages, etc. You can even get pictures from the computer to print out, and don't feel bad if you can only print in black and white, as many people enjoy black and white photo's.
You could also make black and white photo's from a time past that you would want on your card(s).
One year we took all our Christmas cards, and made new ones with card stock, paper bags, etc.
Starting this year, save fun pictures from magazines, advertisements, and cards that you receive. Then turn them into magic. You could also check out your dollar stores, craft stores, etc. throughout the year and pick up little things that you can use to embellish them. Ribbon on spools at great clearance prices add a lot of charm as well.
To make an envelope, just take one the size you would want to use, open it up and make a pattern from it. Keep the pattern for future use.
I have been doing this for years now. I save my cards & my kids give me theirs. When you get a card most of the time the people don't write on the side with the picture, so you cut it in half & use it. Ok now you can put double sided tape around the whole card & then you put in about 1/2 in lace on top of the tape. The other way is you punch holes around the card then you single crochet around it. You can do this all year around. It saves a lot i haven't brought any cards in 6 - 7 years now. Have fun. (12/07/2005)
